§60-3A-10. Bidding procedure.
(a) Except as provided in section ten-b of this article, bids
for licenses shall be governed by the provisions of this section.

(b) The issuance of retail licenses shall be based on sealed
competitive bids in accordance with the provisions of this section.
Bids for the issuance of retail licenses shall be obtained by
public notice published as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in
compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine
of this code, and the publication area for the publication shall be
each market zone within which a retail outlet shall be located.
The second publication of the notice shall appear more than thirty
days next preceding the final day for submitting bids.

(c) Each bid shall indicate the market zone for which the
retail license is sought, whether the bid is for a Class A retail
license or Class B retail license, and, if the board has created
one or more designated areas for the market zone, whether the bid
is for a Class A or Class B retail license to be issued for any
designated area. No bid shall be altered or withdrawn after the
appointed hour for the opening of the bids. Subject to the
provisions of section ten-b of this article, each retail license
shall be awarded to the highest bidder. No bid shall be considered
unless the bond required under section eleven of this article is
submitted to the commissioner. All bids for a retail license may
be rejected by the board if the board determines that the highest
bid is inadequate, in which event the commissioner shall begin anew the bidding process for that retail license.

(d) Each person desiring to submit a bid shall file the bid
with the commissioner prior to the specified date and hour for the
bid openings. The failure to deliver or the nonreceipt of a bid
prior to the appointed date and hour constitutes sufficient reason
for the rejection of a bid. After the award of the retail license,
the commissioner shall indicate upon the successful bid that it was
the successful bid. Thereafter, a copy of the bid and the bidder's
application shall be maintained as a public record, shall be open
to public inspection in the commissioner's office and shall not be
destroyed without the written consent of the Legislative Auditor.

(e) Prior to the issuance of the retail license to the
successful bidder, the bid price and the annual retail license fee,
as specified in section twelve of this article, shall be paid to
the commissioner by money order, certified check or cashier's
check. All retail licenses shall be signed by the commissioner in
the name of the state.

(f) If the successful bidder fails to pay to the commissioner
the bid price and the annual retail license fee, at the time
specified by the commissioner, the bond provided in section eleven
of this article shall be forfeited and the bidder shall not be
issued the retail license. The commissioner shall then issue the
retail license to the next highest bidder for the retail license or
reject all bids and start anew the bidding procedure for the retail
license.